I’m at Ken Schwaber’s ScrumMaster class in Denver.

Yesterday we when through the start of a little project, including meetings with the customer to understand his priorities and desires for the software.

We were advised on the importance of avoiding jargon, and speaking in business terms (a riff I also play from time to time.)

Here are some of the words that slipped into some of the conversations:

transactions

ASP provider

hosting

scalability

maintainability

response time (that was my contribution)

So here’s an experiment: try eliminating technical jargon when you are explaining the effects of technical decisions for a day. Speak in terms of business outcomes, money, schedule, risk, customer experience, and politics.

It’s harder than you think.